Downloading Cisco UCS Tools VIB

The Cisco UCS Tools VIB is packaged in the Cisco ESXi OEM images and is also available for download on Cisco.com. The location for each VIB version is available in the Revision History table.

Installing and Upgrading UCS Tools

Attention

UCS Tools is supported on ESXi version 6.0 and higher. If you are trying to evaluate the HCL compliance for HyperFlex servers, proceed to Step 3 directly. For all non-HyperFlex servers—If the Host Acceptance Level is VMwareCertified or VMwareAccepted, you cannot install the VIB unless you lower your Host Acceptance level to PartnerSupported. Steps 1 and 2 show the procedure to lower the Host Acceptance level. If your Host Acceptance level is already at Community or PartnerSupported, proceed to Step 3 directly. For more information about Host Acceptance Levels, see Understanding Acceptance levels for VIBs and Hosts. ESXi Versions 7.0 and higher If you are using ESXi version 7.0 and higher, run the command esxcli software component apply -d <path to UCS Tool component file (.zip)> to install UCS Tools. To ensure UCS Tools works with ESXi version 7.0 and higher: Fabric Interconnect Attached Cisco UCS M5 servers must be running UCS Manager 4.0(4h) or 4.1(1c). Standalone Cisco UCS M5 servers must be running Cisco IMC 4.0(4k) or 4.1(1f).

After downloading the appropriate version of the Cisco UCS Tools VIB, use the instructions below to install it on the supported ESXi hosts.

1. Run the command esxcli software acceptance get to obtain the current ESXi host acceptance level. To install the UCS Tools VIB, you must set the ESXi host acceptance level to PartnerSupported.

   The following example shows that the supported current acceptance level is set to VMwareAccepted:

   [root@hx-ucsm-qa-node-1:/opt/ucs_tool_esxi] 
   esxcli software acceptance get
   VMwareAccepted

2. Run the command esxcli software acceptance set --level=PartnerSupported to set the current ESXi host acceptance level.

   The following example shows that the supported current acceptance level is set to PartnerSupported:

   [root@hx-ucsm-qa-node-1:/opt/ucs_tool_esxi] esxcli software acceptance set --level=PartnerSupported
   Host acceptance level that is changed to 'PartnerSupported'
   

3. Download or copy the VIB onto the ESXi host and run the command. Copy the VIB to /tmp.

   1. For ESXi versions prior to 7.0

      Run the command esxcli software vib install -v <path pointing to location of VIB>

      --viburl|-v Specifies the URLs to the VIB packages to install.

      The following example shows the command for ESXi versions prior to 7.0:

      [root@localhost:~] esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/ucs-tool-esxi-1.0.4.vib
      Installation Result
         Message: Operation finished successfully.
         Reboot Required: false
         VIBs Installed: CIS_bootbank_ucs-tool-esxi_1.0.4-1OEM
         VIBs Removed:
         VIBs Skipped:
      [root@localhost:~]

   2. For ESXi version 7.0 and higher

      Run the command esxcli software component apply -d /tmp/ucs-tool-esxi.zip

      --depot | -d Specifies the full remote URL to the depot's index.xml, or a local file path to an offline bundle .zip file

      The following example shows the command for ESXi version 7.0 and higher:

      [root@localhost:~] esxcli software component apply -d /tmp/ucs-tool-esxi.zip
      Installation Result
         Components Installed: CIS-ucs-tool-esxi_1.1.2-1OEM
         Components Removed:
         Components Skipped:
         Message: Operation finished successfully.
         Reboot Required: false
      [root@localhost:~]

4. Verify if the installation was successful and obtain more information about the installed VIBs.

   1. For ESXi versions prior to 7.0

      Run the command esxcli software vib list to obtain more information about the installed VIBs.

      The following example shows the list of VIBs installed on the ESXi host.

      [root@hx-ucsm-qa-node-1:/opt/ucs_tool_esxi] esxcli software vib list  
      ucs-tool-esxi       1.0.1-1OEM                             
      Cisco_Systems_Inc.  PartnerSupported  2017-11-06
      

   2. For ESXi version 7.0 and higher

      Run the command esxcli software component list | grep ucs to obtain more information about the installed VIBs.

      esxcli software component get -n CIS-ucs-tool-esxi

       [root@localhost:~] esxcli software component list | grep ucs
      CIS-ucs-tool-esxi  1.1.2-1OEM                         
      Cisco   06-04-2020     PartnerSupported
      

5. Get detailed information about the VIB.

   1. For ESXi versions prior to 7.0

      Run the command esxcli software vib get --vibname ucs-tool-esxi to view detailed information about the VIB.

   2. For ESXi version 7.0 and higher

      Run the command esxcli software component get -n CIS-ucs-tool-esxi to view detailed information about the VIB.

      root@localhost:~] esxcli software component get -n CIS-ucs-tool-esxi
      CIS-ucs-tool-esxi_1.1.2-1OEM
         Name: CIS-ucs-tool-esxi
         Display Name: CIS-ucs-tool-esxi
         Version: 1.1.2-1OEM
         Display Version: 1.1.2-1OEM
         VIBs: CIS_bootbank_ucs-tool-esxi_1.1.2-1OEM
         Vendotr: Cisco
         Summary: ucs_tool_esxi: [Fling] Cisco Out-of-band Host Inventory and Network Configuration
         Severity: general
         Urgency: important
         Category: enhancement
         Release Type: extension
         Kburl: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/UCS-Tools-ESXi-RN.html
         Description: Out-of-band host inventory and network configuration using Cisco CIMC.
         Contact: Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) http://tools.cisco.com/ServiceRequestTool/create/
         ReleaseDate: 06-04-2020

Note	Starting from Cisco UCS Tools VIB version 1.0.12-1OEM, 1.1.12-1OEM, and 1.2.1-1OEM you can change network configuration without requiring a full host reboot and rename Management vSwitch. Starting from Cisco UCS Tools VIB version 1.0.12-1OEM VMware ESXi 6.0 will be not be supported.

Viewing Logs

You can view the following logs in syslog (/var/log/syslog.log):

• Run the command cat /var/log/syslog.log | grep ucs-tool-esxi-inv to obtain the logs for inventory collection.

• Run the command cat /var/log/syslog.log | grep ucs-tool-esxi-cfg to obtain the logs for host configuration.

Manually Trigerring Inventory Collection

Run the command python /opt/ucs_tool_esxi/ucs_host_inventory.py to manually trigger inventory collection.

[root@localhost:~] python /opt/ucs_tool_esxi/ucs_host_inventory.py